go see how president bush saved a city from disaster. restored a sense of calm in all of the disorder. now it's time for "the last word" with lawrence o'donnell. have a good night. >> on the eve of the national rifle association annual convention, we're going to talk about guns tonight, among other things, like which women might run for president in 2016. and we're going to spend some time talking about a particular gun. one that is designed and made for children. a gun that was bought as a gift for a 5-year-old boy who then used it to accidentally kill his 2-year-old sister. the american people are for background checks. >> we know that america is divided. >> divided government is a recipe for gridlock. >> but nowhere are we as fractious as we are on guns. >> there are people on my side. >> pennsylvania senator pat toomey -- >> who didn't want to be perceived -- >> who didn't want to be

perceived as helping -- >> helping something that the president wants to accomplish. because the president wants to accomplish it. >> many of his republican colleagues voted no. >> because they didn't want to give the president a political victory. >> picking politics over policy. >> background checks is the appropriate public policy. >> the american people are for background checks. >> that's why senator joe manchin, who co sponsored the original background check bill -- >> manchin-toomey rewrite. >> has vowed to reintroduce it. >> i'm going to debate anybody on this issue. >> what is wrong with universal background checks. >> new hampshire senator kelley ayotte. >> one of the heroes who voted to block the gun bill. >> against expanded background checks. >> having to answer for her vote. >> kelly ayotte experienced a 15-point slide. >> senator toomey has seen a significant bump. >> this expanded background check was supported. >> the american people are for background checks. >> what happened here was not a policy position. >> we know that america is divided. >> divided government is a recipe for gridlock. >> you're there for certain

reasons. if you cannot come to terms, i'm not sure why you're in office. >> come on. >> you don't miss it at all, do you? >> i don't. >> yeah. >> not one minute. united states senators who voted against the modest bipartisan legislation to expand background checks are finding out firsthand from voters that it is not over. new hampshire republican kelly ayotte, who had a confrontation at a town hall tuesday with the daughter of a victim of the newtown massacre was pressed about her vote and another town hall today. >> i received your four-page letter regarding guns and background checks. i really don't understand -- it doesn't make sense to me. what is wrong with universal background checks? thank you.

>> on this issue, my -- i've described it for you. but i will tell you in terms of a universal background check. as it's been framed. i have a lot of concerns about that leading to a registry that will create a privacy situation for lawful firearms owners. >> but vice president joe biden debunked the gun registry conspiracy theory in a conversation with senator john mccain last week by explaining exactly how these background checks work. >> you say i want to buy that shotgun. or i want to buy that ar-15 or i want to buy whatever it is. that glock .9. what happens is, the clerk picks up a phone, there is an automatic dial number, gets either the fbi -- and so they say, i've got joe biden here. he lives at such-and-such. gives my address. and says i'm a u.s. citizen. and i assert he's never -- asserts he's not disqualified from owning a gun.

it doesn't say what kind of gun i want to buy. it doesn't give the registration number, serial number. it doesn't do anything. and within three minutes, 93% of the time, it comes back and says, accept or reject. it doesn't say don't sell him a gun because he has been adjudicated mentally incompetent. don't sell him a gun because he's a convicted felon. it just says that's it. and that outfit in west virginia has to tear up the request. they can't even keep for 24 hours the fact that somebody called and asked about a guy, biden, can he buy a gun. >> the annual national rifle association convention is in houston this weekend. an nra public affairs officer speaking about the convention said the nra doesn't do pep rallies. we're engaged in a long battle that will take years. we know it's not over. the nra convention has a leadership forum scheduled for tomorrow, featuring such leaders as governor dropout sarah palin,

freshman senator ted cruz, louisiana governor bobby jindal, who has a whopping 38% approval rating in his own state. and republican presidential campaign losers rick perry and rick santorum. but the really big event is, of course, saturday night in what the nra is calling, quote, their words, the most important gathering of the year. and that, of course, can only mean a keynote speech by glenn beck. and to close the convention sunday night, ted nugent will speak about, quote, repaying our debt to here owes, end quote. apparently the nra could not get an actual military veteran to speak about, quote, the ultimate sacrifices of the u.s. military warriors and their families. so they got ted nugent. joining me now are nra enemies list ej deion, columnist for the "washington post" and

"huffington post" sam stein. ej, i want to start with you, because you are the only one among us who is actually on the nra's enemies list. you've earned it. others of us have tried to earn it. and apparently -- >> you don't get there -- more than earned it. >> but ej, this really is not over. when you watch what's happening to kelly ayotte up there, i found the most striking thing in that town meeting for me, as someone who is looking at the way this stuff works on the inside, was that voter saying, "i received your four-page letter regarding guns and background checks." ej, i think you know how much trouble a senator has to be in to send a four-page letter to her constituents about a vote that she just cast. >> and she is in trouble when a constituent reads the entire four-page letter and still can't figure out why she voted the way she voted.

by the way, i just want to say, lawrence, for the first time ever, you and i can both say, we agree with the nra on something. it's not over. i don't think the background -- certainly, the long fight for gun sanity is not over. but i don't think the background check's fight is over either. and i think the trouble that kelly ayotte is in up there, the fact that good citizens in a calm but really firm way are saying, why did you vote this way, the fact that all the people in that room, all those people who applauded in that room are sending a message to her, to rob portman, and to a lot of other senators who voted no, thinking that was the politically safe vote. jeff flake is another one. i think they are discovering that for the first time, really, the politics of this may be quite different than they were before. and that a lot of the energy is actually on the side of people who want to pass sane gun laws. so i think we are going to see this come back, and i still think it's going to pass the senate.

the house then will have to deal with. >> and republican senator pat toomey, coauthor of the bill that should have passed, has made things more difficult for republicans politically by what he said in philadelphia. let's listen to this. >> i thought that we had settled on a really common sense approach that ought to be able to achieve a consensus. i think in the end we didn't, because our politics have become so polarized. and there are people on my side who didn't want to be perceived to be helping something that the president wants to accomplish, simply because it's the president who wants to accomplish it. >> joy, it's one of those things that was obvious. we got it. but there's something about a republican senator involved in the effort actually saying it on the record and in this case on video. >> yeah, that it's obstruction for obstruction sake because of obama. and it's important that it's toomey saying that.

he's part of that class of 2010. these guys that were elected in 2010, ron johnson, wisconsin, people elected in basically blue or purple states, like he was in pennsylvania. that they have to be up in 2016, which is the presidential year. that may seem like a long way off and they may have thought it's safe, okay to vote against background checks now, because i'm not up until '16. but a., that's a sprinklial year. independent voters don't like this idea of obstruction and it's not one vote. this vote is going to come back. they're going to be on the record more than once voting against something pretty much everybody is for which is background checks. >> sam, it's interesting to me to see what these senators are doing back in their districts. there is kelly ayotte who has got a problem she is trying to manage in town hall meetings. pat toomey in pennsylvania saying this thing to pennsylvania newspaper and editorial board meeting. it used to be in the old days, some, i don't know, 15 years ago, what the senator was saying in pennsylvania to his local paper wouldn't be part of your problem in new hampshire.

now, with all this information flowing, and with this -- new hampshire voters are going to see pat toomey saying that on video. >> yes. >> when they show up at the next kelly ayotte event. >> it's instantaneous. and you know, part of -- i think it's very hard to overstate the significance of the pat toomey quote. obviously, as you said, everyone knew about it. everyone knew that was the reason why. but to have it said like that, and so sincere and somber way really struck me as an -- like an amazing admission. secondly, you're right about how instantous this all is. not only are groups sending people out to town halls to make sure the senators are confronted on their vote, but they can adjust basically between town hall meetings and so one of the things i'm expecting to happen, senator ayotte is going to be called out on this thing about a national registry, not just because of what you pled with joe biden, but because the bill explicitly punishes government for up to 15 years in jail if they create a registry. that's the natural follow-up question that follows kelly ayotte around. and you're right.

it will happen because we have a fast-moving dialogue going on with guns right now. >> let's listen to what kay bailey hutchinson, former republican senator from texas said about this and pat toomey with jon stewart last night. >> let me say, pat toomey, the senator from pennsylvania, did a yeoman's job -- >> he and joe manchin came together, got a compromised bill. >> and really, the american people are for background checks. they are. >> like 90%. >> yes. >> and ej, this is a former texas republican. this is no new jersey republican talking there. >> well, she is the sort of person that ted cruz would call a squish. >> yes. >> because she's in favor of this very modest measure. no, and i think what's depressing is, how few republicans crossed over on this. there was a time not so long ago, 10, 15 years ago, when you

could get quite a lot of republicans voting for sane gun legislation. heck, not just background checks, but also an assault weapons ban. and it shows how ideological that party has become. i mean, when pat toomey, who is a very loyally conservative guy, showing the clips of him at cpac. when he becomes a moderate, that tells you something about what's happened to that party. but i think a lot of the people who vote for republican senators, it particularly in purple or blue states, expect them to be more moderate than many of those senators who voted against background checks. >> let me jump on that. it's not known that in 2004, george w. bush ran on an assault weapons ban, on background checks. it's not well-known. obviously, he didn't publicize it. but those were his positions. i can it's remarkable how far we have moved. you said 10, 15 years ago, you can imagine moderate republicans coming to background checks. 10, 15 years ago, the nra was for background checks. so, yes, the conversation has

moved dramatically. and the only explanation is really what pat toomey offered, which is that because the president supported it, therefore republicans had to oppose it. >> sam, that thing you said about george w. bush is so not well-known that this side of the table did not know that. >> you know everything. >> i didn't know that. >> what? >> now i know everything. >> i'll get you the clips. >> joy, the -- we're watching the polling on these senators, it's not just kelly ayotte who has had a problem. toomey's polling goes up. in the toomey polling going up, which i think is the most important thing for other republicans to watch, what that -- there seems to be something in that, that says, hey, there's something to be said for what looks like statesmanship. >> right. not just toomey, but look at mary landrieu in louisiana, always considered vulnerable, up in a state that has almost no gun laws, how conservative they are. her numbers went up too. so did kaye hagen's in north carolina. by the way, bill was crafted pretty smartly.

the part about assault weapons was an amendment. the main actual bill was called the public safety and second amendment protection act. like the bill was written specifically to be all about background checks and prohibiting anything like a registry. so the way it was written, protected people like toomey, even with gun owners. so to vote against something that moderate, that compromised-laden, makes people look extreme. >> ej deion, the nra's enemy's list, and the last words friends list. joy reid, thank you for being here. >> thank you. >> and the in-studio version of sam stein, teaching me something i did not know. thank you very much. >> thanks. >> thank you. coming up, what wouldn't you do for money? seriously. what legal thing would you not do to make money. it is an important question. and i'll give you my answer to that question in tonight's rewrite. plus, howard dean will join me to talk about how the republicans are now blaming the

president for not getting more legislation through congress. you know, the legislation that the republicans are blocking. and we know hillary clinton is running for president. the woman is running, okay? that's not to be debated on this program. but what other women might run for president next time? that's coming up. ...so you say men are superior drivers? yeah? then how'd i get this... [ voice of dennis ] ...safe driving bonus check? every six months without an accident, allstate sends a check. silence.

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medical marijuana and will soon sign a gun safety bill that mandates background checks, bans certain kinds of assault weapons, and limits magazines to holding ten bullets. what a difference 32 miles makes. coming up in the spotlight, hillary clinton drops another hint, if you think these are hints, about what you already know about her future. but what other women are angling to run for president next time? i think i know a woman senator who has presidential dreams for 2016, and i'll tell you who that is coming up. you hurt my feelings, todd.

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they're worried about their politics. it's tough. their base thinks that compromise with me is somehow a betrayal. >> tuesday's presidential press conference did not produce any actual news, but it did produce a moment that the republican party has decided to use in a new web ad attacking the president. it was, of course, the ridiculous juice moment. >> 100 days into his second term, the president was reminded he hasn't had a whole lot of legislative success. >> the president questioned about his language and legislative agenda. >> 100-day mark, faced a string of defeats. 100 days into his second term, already faced a string of defeats in congress. >> do you still have the juice to get the rest of your agenda through this congress? >> when you put it that way, john -- maybe i should just pack

up and go home. the gun bill failed, the sequester appears to stay and immigration reform still a glimmer of hope, wisely because the president has stayed out of it. >> maybe i should just pack up and go home. >> howard dean, there you have a republican ad, attacking the president. apparently a co production of the republican party and abc news. >> you know, it's very interesting. these guys are probably around 23% in the polls. i am shocked that the vaunted republican party message machine is as incompetent as this. if you're 23% of the polls, you do not get advanced by running negative ads about someone else. basic politics. all they're doing is driving their own negatives down, no credibility. clobbered in the last election.

i think they're doing everything they can to make sure congress goes democratic in 2014. it's great. >> i have got to get your reaction to the presidential press conference. as someone who has been up there, as a candidate, as a governor, and you're facing the president, getting these questions. when i watch it, what i'm -- what i see too much of, not all, but what i see too much of is, the reporters caring more about the questions and phrasings of their questions and little catch words like juice and all that stuff. so that they can have the colorful moment that gets used in everybody's video. >> that's been used for -- been done for a long time. >> what does it feel like when you're watching that happen and know this guy is trying to do this so he gets his -- >> my problem, i'm very direct about what i feel. i'm likely to call the guy an ignore aimous which is true, but presidential candidates should want say that. but that's true. that's one of the reasons people don't respect the press very much. it's such an inside the beltway game. it really is true. i think you put your finger on it.

they care more about their little two seconds in the national television, and so they ask these silly questions. and then, of course, if -- you know, if you ask a question as a reporter and the republicans use it in their ad, you probably haven't acquitted yourself very well. >> that's kind of prove. >> but the problem is in the old days the editor would have stamped on someone like that, and today they do it because it cranks up the ratings. >> talk about your neighboring state of new hampshire and what's happening to republican kelly ayotte. >> new hampshire is very interesting. craziest legislature in the entire country in the last session. and the people of new hampshire rebelled and threw them out of office and gave the democrats back a majority. this time around. and kelly ayotte, i think, totally misread the electorate and thought it was these right wing nut jobs who were in the house who got there sort of by accident in a lot of ways. and so she has misread her electorate badly. she could lose her seat on this. not many republicans will, she could because new hampshire is a moderate centrist state. and she did not appear to be a moderate centrist.

she has time to make that up. but i would say of all of the republicans hurt badly, she is in the worst shape as a result of that vote. >> and when you see -- when you cast these votes, we rarely get to see a polling effect. the way we're seeing them with pat toomey in pennsylvania. >> i was very surprised. the thing that shocked me the most was jeff flake's collapse in arizona. >> which he's now acknowledging saying this is real. >> that means ordinary people who happen to be republicans are in favor of background checks. >> well, the other republican senator in the state voted for it, john mccain voted -- >> well, mccain has been able to stand up for what he believes. i may not agree but you've got to give him credit for standing up what he thinks is right. which a lot of people on both parties, but particularly in the republican party, didn't do. this is a bankrupt strategy, lawrence. they're using the same playbook they used last time and they got clobbereded. that is, let's not give the president any victories. the problem is -- i don't understand how they can misread this so badly.

they got absolutely clobber in the election when the biggest vote against them and right back to the same old strategy. this doesn't help people like cantor trying to rebrand the republican party. makes them look like the same old horrible gas bags they were in the first two years. >> but a lot of them, anyway, now do seem to be trying to find a way to get there on immigration. and get to a bill-signing with the president. >> i'm skeptical. look at all of the back wash they're getting from the tea party and the crack pots on the talk radio and all that stuff. i don't know that this is going to pass. i think those -- those four republicans in the gang of eight could get run over. look at rubio tap-dancing his way out of what he said. i mean, i -- i think this party really is in a civil war. the leadership doesn't know how to manage it. and the people who are on the right who are being left out of the winning combination that is trying to be built are basically willing to take down the party with them. and they may succeed. >> governor howard dean, thank you very much. >> thank you. coming up, hillary clinton may not be the only woman

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in the spotlight tonight, hillary clinton 2016.

in washington last night, and in an otherwise uneventful speech before a foreign policy group, hillary clinton took the opportunity to remind everyone that she is running for president. >> when i became secretary of state, i spent a lot of time thinking about my i will allows treous predecessors and not those that went on to become president. >> emily's list launched, pushing for a woman in the white house. >> a long time ago, women didn't even get to vote. which is crazy. >> my mom told me that when she grew up, no one even thought there would be a woman president. >> can you imagine? no woman president? they were all boys. >> joining me now for an exclusive interview, emily's

list president and political analyst jonathan capehart. stephanie, jonathan and i were chuckling at the end of that ad of yours. we were wondering how you decided on the casting of that woman presidential character, you know, the hair color, the -- just the general look. >> well, we had -- we had two choices. one between blonde and one brunette. so we just went with one of then. how does that sound? >> i guess -- i think we can accept that. at the moment. jonathan capehart, hillary i think is being wonderfully open about this. she didn't need that reference in her speech about secretaries of state last night to refer to not just the ones who became president. she is just kind of putting it out there. she's not trying to hide it. >> is she putting it out there or is she having fun? >> having fun running for president.

this is the fun stage of running for president. >> yeah, when you're still popular, when people are clamoring for you to get in. when people are obliquely referencing you being sworn in as president of the united states, even though it's the back of your head. that was uncanny. anyone watching the emily's list ad will think, oh, my god, it's -- that's hillary clinton. and, you know, i can understand -- i can under the clamor. i'm sure former secretary of state, former senator, former first lady hillary clinton hears the clamor, is appreciative of the clamor. and i think by saying something like she did last night is having fun with the folks who are clamoring for her to get in. >> it's the official hillary is running. so you're going to get your wish for a democratic nominee, anyway. but for emily's list, would you be willing -- would you back a republican woman running for president? >> no, we would not. emily's list is a 28-year-old

organization that has focused on electing democratic women that entire time, and one of the reasons is that we believe that the democratic party is actually a party that is based on values to provide opportunities for women to excel. and that's why you see so many more women from the democratic party in congress, and i believe in line to run for president. >> and, by the way, here's my theory, jonathan, of the other woman who has presidential ambitions for 2016. and that would be kelly ayotte. she believes she has a great head start, you know, coming from new jersey -- from new hampshire in the new hampshire primary. and that to me is the only thing i can find that explains her vote on the gun legislation. because she can take that vote out into right wing republican presidential primaries and iowa and elsewhere and she'll be happy to stand on that vote. >> and, you know what, that's a great theory. only problem is, her poll numbers are sinking in her home state. >> okay, there's that. okay.

>> exactly. i'm glad you brought it up. >> there's a plan, but yeah -- >> yeah, if she can't carry her home state -- if she is catching hell in the same way other senators are catching hell on both sides of the aisle for the vote she has taken, then if kelly ayotte wants to throw her hat in the ring and embarrass herself by running for president, have at it. >> i couldn't agree with you more. if you look at the poll numbers that came out for senator kay hagan on the tough vote she took on the right side in north carolina, you're exactly right. >> stephanie, here's what it also does for senator ayotte. if it leaves her available as a viable vice presidential nominee for someone to pick, because it is a republican orthodox vote she cast. she wouldn't have that problem there. >> sure, that's -- that is possible. and, you know, at emily's list, we think about, you know, the need to have more women running for office and in positions like this.

but we really do feel strongly. i think you're seeing this. i understand you believe hillary clinton is going to run. i certainly hope you're right. but what we really want to see is a woman at the top of the ticket. and i think if by chance secretary clinton doesn't decide to run for whatever reason, we've got a great group of women on the democratic side who could take this on. i think this is a pretty wide open primary in 2016. >> stephanie, who? if hillary doesn't run, what other women could be viable on a primary stage against andrew cuomo, joe biden, martin o'malley, people like that? >> senator amy klobuchar of minnesota is one of the most popular senators in the country in her home state. janet napalitano, former governors of very red states who have done very well in their service. and, of course, the senator in new york, as well, already working on expanding her national network. now all of these folks, i don't care if you're a woman or man in the democratic party right now. until secretary clinton makes a decision, it's hard to gain any ground.

and i think we're all waiting to see what she says. and if, by chance, and like i said, i hope she goes. if by chance she doesn't, i really do think that this is wide open. >> jonathan, the letdown -- hillary clinton, the people she would disappoint by not running, it's inconceivable to me she would disappoint them, and it's also inconceivable to me that for her own ambition she wouldn't choose to run. >> i love the set-up of that question. yeah, i didn't know where to go there. >> didn't knowing where to go at all. but yes, people, democrats would be devastated. women democrats would be devastated. >> stephanie would be devastated. >> stephanie -- >> can't do that to stephanie. >> a lot of other women who can go. i'll be okay. >> but here's the thing. i really -- i really hope that if secretary clinton decides, you know what, i hear the clamor, i understand it. but i just don't have it in me. i just can't do it. i want to run my own foundation,

and i want to be a granny. that my hope would be that -- the american people would let her be. >> stephanie, one more woman running for office, i'm wondering about. and that's in the state of montana. and that is you. what about you running for max baucus' open senate seat in montana? come oranges on, we need women candidates. >> i appreciate that. i have been overwhelmed with the folks that have talked to me about this opportunity. and the truth is, like you, i want to see how this plays out a little bit. there is a lot of folks in montana looking at it. i've got a great job here, working to -- well, elect the first woman president. i want to see how this plays out for a while. >> we'll have to draft stephanie for montana. emily's list president stephanie schriock and jonathan capehart. >> thank you. we'll show you the most loathsome commercial ever made. it is actually kind of hard to watch.

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crane operators in new york city hoisted the final piece of the spire that will stand on top of 1 world trade center today. when completed, the $3 billion building will reach 1,776 feet, making it the tallest building in the western hemisphere. the building is one of four being built in lower manhattan to replace the world trade center's twin towers destroyed in 2001. the new 1 world trade center is scheduled to open next year. up next, the legal business of marketing guns for children. perfectly legal. and it's next in the "rewrite." flying is old hat for business travelers. the act of soaring across an ocean in a three-hundred-ton rocket doesn't raise as much as an eyebrow for these veterans of the sky. however, seeing this little beauty over international waters

is enough to bring a traveler to tears. we're putting the wonder back into air travel, one innovation at a time. the new american is arriving. if you have high cholesterol, here's some information that may be worth looking into. in a clinical trial versus lipitor, crestor got more high-risk patients' bad cholesterol to a goal of under 100. getting to goal is important, especially if you have high cholesterol plus any of these risk factors because you could be at increased risk for plaque buildup in your arteries over time. and that's why when diet and exercise alone aren't enough to lower cholesterol i prescribe crestor. [ female announcer ] crestor is not right for everyone. like people with liver disease or women who are nursing, pregnant or may become pregnant. tell your doctor about other medicines you're taking. call your doctor right away if you have muscle pain or weakness, feel unusually tired, have loss of appetite,

upper belly pain, dark urine or yellowing of skin or eyes. these could be signs of rare but serious side effects. is your cholesterol at goal? ask your doctor about crestor. [ female announcer ] if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. what wouldn't you do to make money? i'm not talking about criminal stuff here. i want you to think about what

legal thing you would not do to make money. everyone has something they wouldn't do to make money. can't think of anything? i bet you can. how about porn? see? everyone has some legal thing they won't do to make money. when i was a kid, my father told me he had a chance to be part owner of a liquor store in my neighborhood. and let me tell you, a liquor store in my neighborhood was guaranteed to make you rich on day one. but my old man wasn't even tempted. he said he had seen booze destroy too many lives and kill too many people. he never second-guessed himself. as the liquor store owners got richer and richer. and he would have liked to be rich but not that way. i remember exactly where we were in his car when he told me that. we were driving by the liquor store. that was a formative conversation for me. because the list of legal things

i won't do for money includes selling alcohol. and selling tobacco. and selling guns and ammunition. i would like to be rich too. but not that way. i'm guessing that bill mcneil never had that conversation with his son, steve mcneil. i'm guessing they never talked about what they would not do to make money, because what they decided to do as a father and son team in a small town in pennsylvania was start a company to make guns and sell guns for children. now, you've got to wonder how that conversation went. hey, tad, i've got an idea. or was it, son, i've been thinking. not enough 5-year-olds have guns. now, what at least one of the mcneils should have have said in that formative conversation is, "hell, no, i would do porn for

money before i would make guns for children." you would think one of the mcneils would have had the good sense to say, if we make guns for little kids, someone is going to get killed. well, if one of them said that, the other one must have said "yeah, but we can get rich" and getting rich mattered more to the mcneils than someone getting killed. so they started working on names for their guns for children. the big-sellers are "the cricket" and "the chipmunk." here's a cricket. in pink. that one is obviously aimed at the barbie crowd. little boys tend to prefer the brown one. my first rifle is the slogan that bill and steve mcneil came up with to market guns for kids.

>> hey, where are you going? >> shoot my new cricket rifle. >> i wish i had one. >> my first rifle. a moment you would never forget. the cricket is the perfect way to get young or small-framed shooters started right with a safety-promoting design. it's soft-shooting, affordable and accurate. girls and even mom will love the way they can pick one to their own taste. start your own tradition. cricket. find yours online or ask for a cricket rifle at your local dealer. >> the mcneils hit their marketing target when a family living in a mobile home on lawsons bottom road in cumberland county, kentucky bought a cricket for their 5-year-old boy. on tuesday, the little boy picked up his cricket in the kitchen and killed his 2-year-old sister. he accidentally shot her in the chest. we know their names. the little boy, his little sister, their mother, their father. but i don't want to mention them in deference to the family's loss and their grief. the names i want you to know are

the merchants of death, the merchants of this death, the guys who made and sold the rifle that killed this 2-year-old girl. yes, the parents made the choice to buy that gun. but i don't feel like talking about the parents tonight. not with their daughter lying dead. i'm going to leave the discussion of the parents' responsibility in this case to others. i'm feeling too much compassion and sorrow for that family to criticize them right now. i want us to think about the merchants of this death. they make guns 20 miles away from where the little league world series is played, and they market their guns to kids who aren't old enough to play little league baseball. bill mcneil and steve mcneil market their guns to 5-year-olds. they have pictures of younger

kids than that on their website, toting crickets and chipmunks. they have a picture on their website that is pure child abuse. i can't show it to you. it shows a toddler who is 2 years old, at most, maybe younger, holding a rifle. on his lap. over his arms like that. because the toddler obviously isn't strong enough to lift it up. that picture is legal child pornography. so this is the country you live in now. you live in the country where 5-year-olds are not allowed to play little league baseball, because we are afraid of them getting hit by fastballs, thrown by 10-year-olds. because we think fastball pitching is too dangerous for 5-year-olds. little league allows them to play only tee ball. you know, for safety. you live in the country where bill and steve mcneil legally

sell guns for 5-year-olds without even worrying about safety. if you're concerned with child safety, you don't give children guns. you don't give 5-year-olds the keys to the car. there's a whole lot of stuff you don't let 5-year-olds do if you are concerned about child safety. but america's merchants of gun death are not concerned about child safety or adult safety or anything other than getting rich and so tonight you live in a country where bill mcneil and steve mcneil make and sell guns for little kids. because they can. and because obviously there is nothing, nothing bill mcneil and steve mcneil won't do for money. girl vo: i'm pretty conservative.

very logical thinker. (laughs) i'm telling you right now, the girl back at home would absolutely not have taken a zip line in the jungle. (screams) i'm really glad that girl stayed at home. vo: expedia helps 30 million travelers a month find what they're looking for. one traveler at a time. expedia. find yours. have hail damage to both their cars. ted

ted is trying to get a hold of his insurance agent. maxwell is not. he's on geico.com setting up an appointment with an adjuster. ted is now on hold with his insurance company. maxwell is not and just confirmed a 5:30 time for tuesday. ted, is still waiting. yes! maxwell is out and about... with ted's now ex-girlfriend. wheeeee! whoo! later ted! online claims appointments. just a click away on geico.com. will there be a colbert headed to congress this time next week? that's next. and i've been told by the last word's online that for reasons important to them, at least, i should once again beg you to like "the last word" on facebook. consider yourself begged. [ kate ] many women may not be absorbing the calcium they take

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it is 120 hours to go before we will know if elizabeth colbert-busch will be elected as the next member of congress from the first district of south carolina. and this being south carolina, voters in the district are now reporting receiving phone calls asking questions like "what would you think of elizabeth colbert-busch" if i told you a judge held her in contempt of court during her divorce proceedings. steve, this is what they call a push poll in the trade. they're not really writing down the results. they don't care. they don't care how many people say i'm cool with that. i've got no problem with that. i was held in contempt -- you know, they don't care. they just want to put -- these -- ugly ideas into voters' heads. >> yeah. it's a misunderstood term. push poll gets misunderstood.

you're calling people the most inflammatory things about them as a way of getting the message out there, often through sort of a -- it's a way of separating it from the campaign. it can sound like an independent pollster and it sounds like it's from an independent pollster. so this is an objective person. >> we have determined it's been determined that it's from a firm in connecticut that's doing this. but they're not saying who has paid them to do it. but this is south carolina where george w. bush did this with john mccain. >> right. >> sending out these calls that mccain went ballistic. >> the 2000 campaign was probably sort of the low moment, maybe until the 2012 campaign in modern republican presidential politics. >> wait, wait, wait. you don't know the rest of the questions they're asking. elizabeth colbert-busch. >> there's more. >> yeah. so when you go low moment, want you to have the rest of these. these are some of the questions going out there on the phone in south carolina today.

what would you think of elizabeth colbert-busch if she had done jail time? what would you think of elizabeth colbert-busch if i told you she was caught running up a charge account bill? what would you think of elizabeth colbert-busch if she supported the failed stimulus plan? well, gee, that would do it right there. >> what about the push poll on the other side where they could say what would you think of mark sanford if i said he left the state in the middle of his job as governor to be with his mistress and claimed he was on -- oh, wait, that's not made up. >> you know, what i've already made up my mind what i think of that. that's not news to me. so this is, you know, typical, south carolina mud-slinging as we have seen it. >> south carolina really does have this reputation, usually sort of in republican presidential politics, because that's really the time we pay attention to south carolina. this would be kind of amazing if colbert-busch wins this. it looks like she is probably ahead right now, the wild card is this is such a republican district overall.

but she will be the story of southern politics of the last two generations, really, has been that white voters in the south, particularly deep south oh were once all democrats and basically become all republicans to the point that only democrats representing the south in congress are basically, you know, minority democrats from voting rights districts in the south. there is one white democrat left representing the entire deep south in congress. john bare from georgia. she would be the second. and that would make her one of the most vulnerable democrats in the country in 2014 when she would stand for re-election. this is a district that typically votes republican. >> but she is in that position that incumbency gives you of giving people a reason to like you. >> absolutely. >> she can build up real goodwill in that job. >> it can take a fluke, almost, to get a democrat in one of those races, but when you're the incumbent -- no. not only roads lead back to chris christie with me, but it is the chris christie story of new jersey. it took a really unpopular democratic governor to get

christie in with less than 50% of the vote. if it hadn't been for that, he wouldn't be what he is right now. >> steve kranaki, host of "up" saturdays and sundays at 8:00 to 10:00 a.m. >> that's right. >> gets the last word. chris hayes, who used to do "up" which steve now does is actually up next. strategy of doom. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start tonight with this. imagine being a member of a political party whose only initiative, whose only recent mission, whose only active purpose these days is to find ways to keep member of the other party, blacks, young people, the elderly, from voting? and oh yeah, keeping the president of the united states from getting anything done. meet the republican party of mitch mcconnell, john boehner, and, yes, reince priebus. look at its agenda on gun safety. do nothing, or should i say